Kidnapped toddler's father not a 'suspect': Brit cops

London, Mar.13 (ANI): British police officials have clarified that the father of the five-year old boy kidnapped in Pakistan's Punjab province is neither a suspect in the case nor he has been arrested.

A senior British police official said Raja Naqqash Saeed, who was branded a suspect in the abduction case of his own son, Sahil Saeed, by Pakistani police official, was helping cops in London with investigations.Saeed is closely working with us, and his wife and the family for the safe release of his son, The Sun quoted Chief Superintendent Darren Shenton, as saying.

Shenton, however, did not reveal much about the progress in the case but said that no arrests have been made in Britain in connection with the kidnapping.

"We have not made any arrests in relation to the Pakistani investigation. Our primary concern is Sahil's welfare and his safe return," Shenton said.

Confusion still persists over Sahil's abduction, who was kidnapped from his grandmother's house in Punjab's Jhelum last week, with diplomats and officials failing to confirm the news regarding his whereabouts.

On Thursday, media reports said that Sahil has been found and is returning to London with his father and Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Hasan also confirmed the news only to backtrack later.

"Now I've come to know that there's confusion about it so I don't want to make further comments," Hasan told a foreign news agency minutes after he confirmed the recovery of the British toddler.

British diplomats in Pakistan and London said they were urgently checking the reports, but police in Jhelum said they could not confirm he had been located.

Earlier, Pakistan's Law Minister Babar Awan had revealed that Sahil has been found.

Sky News quoted Awan as saying that toddler was found, but news of his freedom had been kept quiet for safety reasons.

Sahil was taken by gunmen from his grandmother's house in Jhelum last Wednesday after a gang reportedly tortured his family for up to six hours.

The young boy and his father were preparing to fly back to Britain and booked a taxi to take them to the airport before the gunmen struck. Sahil's mother had stayed at home in Oldham. (ANI)